"Stick Fly" Playwright Lydia R. Diamond: "We Have To Acknowledge That Theater Has Been Largely Elitist"

By
Cynthia Reid
|
Shadow and ActNovember 22, 2011 at 4:56PM

With the official Broadway debut of Stick Fly right around the corner, playwright Lydia R. Diamond recently commented, in an interview with The Boston Globe, on the general perception of the theater as well as the unaccounted fans that are often overlooked. "We have to acknowledge that theater has been largely elitist. But what we forget is that there are people who are so passionately invested in theater that they save their money and they come. They don’t go to 10 movies, and they come to the theater. And those are the people we forget about all the time. And dismiss,’’ she said.

With the official Broadway debut of Stick Fly right around the corner, playwright Lydia R. Diamond recently commented, in an interview with The Boston Globe, on the general perception of the theater as well as the unaccounted fans that are often overlooked. "We have to acknowledge that theater has been largely elitist. But what we forget is that there are people who are so passionately invested in theater that they save their money and they come. They don’t go to 10 movies, and they come to the theater. And those are the people we forget about all the time. And dismiss,’’ she said.

Producers have assumed black audiences wouldn't buy tickets to major Broadway productions but, with the arrival of all-black cast productions like Stickfly, The Mountaintop and The Gershwins' Porgy And Bess soon to come, that train of thought is being challenged.

“Everyone says, ‘What does this moment mean?' I think partially it means that we’re starting to understand that people of color also have money that they will spend on theater. The commercial viability of everyone’s story - it’s important,’’ Diamond said.

Stick Fly deals with themes of race, class and sibling rivalry when two brothers introduce their girlfriends to the family on the same weekend at the family vacation home in Martha's Vineyard. Directed by Kenny Leon with Alicia Keys on board as a producer, it features Dule Hill, Tracie Thoms, Condola Rashad, Rosie Benton, Rueben Santiago-Hudson and Mekhi Phifer.

Opening night is Dec. 8 and you can read the full interview with Diamond HERE.